Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence pleads guilty to high-speed police chase
Convicted Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence has pleaded guilty to taking part in a 2005 high-speed stolen car chase with police. Lawrence is “most anxious to have the matter resolved,” her lawyer said.
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Convicted Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence has pleaded guilty to taking part in a 2005 high-speed stolen car chase with police.
Lawyer Drew Hamilton formally entered the pleas on the 41-year-old’s behalf at Newcastle Local Court on Thursday afternoon.
He said she would not be fighting the police case against her. “My client (Lawrence) is most anxious to have the matter resolved,” Mr Hamilton told the court earlier.
A sentence hearing is set down for February 1.
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Lawrence, who was not required to attend court on Thursday, has been suffering from anxiety and depression since her return to Australia in November last year, according to court documents, following her release from a Bali prison where she spent 13 years for drug smuggling.
Lawrence handed herself in to Waratah police station after arriving back in Australia from Bali to answer outstanding warrants over the high-speed chase. She had been facing charges of car theft, driving unlicensed, exceeding the speed limit by 40km/h and failing to stop for police before she travelled to Bali in April 2005.
Police alleged she stole a white Ford Laser hatch at Enfield at about 4am on March 26, 2005, and was driving at 130km/h in a 90km/h zone at Mooney Mooney before her arrest.
Lawrence was caught at Bali airport in April 2005 with 2.7kg of heroin strapped to her body and jailed for 20 years. She served 13 years after being granted sentence reductions.
The two ringleaders in the smuggling plan, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in 2015.
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